Wednesday, February 04, 2009

More first century sleaze

Two posts in December of 2007 did not show me at my most mature. I admit it and I remain in my general posture of contrition. The first was an innocent citation from Philo ("… all erections of any kind made by hand" Philo, Decalogue 51), followed by an apology for my juvenile behavior.

But reading Josephus Antiquities today I stumbled across this one (I almost had to purge my house of Josephus related items as a result). "And when all the people did as the king commanded them, Saul erected …" (6.121).

Shocking.

First, how did Josephus know Saul erected? Second, why did he care? Josephus the Pharisee (Vita 1:12)? I think not - though perhaps of the Blue Oyster bar variety.